Found Lou Gehrig's 1928 World Series Hamilton "Piping Rock" For Sale

Many Hamilton watch collectors believe that the Piping Rock is the pinnacle of the company’s watch-making and design. Some even consider the Piping Rock to be the quintessential American wristwatch. With strong Art Deco influences, these watches feature hinged lugs and a black enamel bezel with Roman numerals. The Piping Rock was introduced in 1928 and the three watches introduced that year represented the first Hamilton watches not named after a geometric shape (i.e.cushion, square, oval, tonneau, etc.).

Any vintage Piping Rock from 1928 is highly collectible, but the rarest of the rare are the 35 Piping Rocks made to commemorate the World Series Championship that year of the New York Yankees, a squad that was one of the most legendary lineups (nicknamed “Murderers' Row”) to ever run the bases and that represented more future Hall of Famers than any other team in baseball history. On opening day of the 1929 season, 30 watches were presented to the players of the 1928 squad, 1 watch was presented to the owner (Jacob Ruppert), and one was kept by Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a federal judge who was baseball’s first commissioner and the man who ordered the watches to present to the players. Three watches were kept by Hamilton, but their current whereabouts are unknown.

One was, of course, presented to Lou Gehrig, and that's exactly what we've found here.

Many Hamilton watch collectors believe that the Piping Rock is the pinnacle of the company’s watch-making and design. Some even consider the Piping Rock to be the quintessential American wristwatch. With strong Art Deco influences, these watches feature hinged lugs and a black enamel bezel with Roman numerals. The Piping Rock was introduced in 1928 and the three watches introduced that year represented the first Hamilton watches not named after a geometric shape (i.e.cushion, square, oval, tonneau, etc.).

Any vintage Piping Rock from 1928 is highly collectible, but the rarest of the rare are the 35 Piping Rocks made to commemorate the World Series Championship that year of the New York Yankees, a squad that was one of the most legendary lineups (nicknamed “Murderers' Row”) to ever run the bases and that represented more future Hall of Famers than any other team in baseball history. On opening day of the 1929 season, 30 watches were presented to the players of the 1928 squad, 1 watch was presented to the owner (Jacob Ruppert), and one was kept by Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a federal judge who was baseball’s first commissioner and the man who ordered the watches to present to the players. Three watches were kept by Hamilton, but their current whereabouts are unknown.

Will Roseman, a vintage Hamilton expert and operator of HamiltonWatch.info, has spent years trying to track down these 35 and until recently had only been able to locate 4. The watches for Judge Landis and Waite Hoyt are in located the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. The watch owned by Jacob Ruppert is in private hands. And Roseman himself is fortunate enough to own the watch that was presented to Patrick Collins. But that had left 31 unaccounted for, including Babe Ruth’s and Lou Gehrig’s watches.

Recently, the watch engraved to “Henry L. Gehrig” was brought to Heritage Auctions to consign along with other Gehrig memorabilia by the son of one of the Iron Horse’s former girlfriends. The New York Times published an article profiling the interesting familial background on these Gehrig items. Gehrig was one of the greatest to ever play the game and his record of playing 2,130 games in a row lasted until Cal Ripken, Jr. surpassed it. Gehrig still holds the record for most career grand slams (23) and he was a Triple Crown winner in 1934.

And what has happened to Babe Ruth’s Piping Rock? According to Roseman, the last known sighting was in 1950 when one of Babe’s family members sent the watch to Hamilton to be cleaned after Ruth passed away. Roseman interviewed the Hamilton technician who worked on it, the late Gordon Minneck, and that is the last report of its sighting.

If you are looking for a little more affordable alternative, in the 1980s Hamilton created a limited edition Piping Rock with a manual wind movement the same eagle, American shield, bats, and 1928 caseback engraving as was on the 1928 World Series watches. There is one currently on eBay, available here.